


Hot Nozomi

by Nozoroomie



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Eli's super gay, F/F, Hot nuggets sequel, I'm only half sorry, Nozomi's super gay, it's very slight NicoMaki folks, possibly slight crack? I did my best to keep them in character ;u;, this is a very gay fanficiton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-15
Updated: 2016-04-15
Packaged: 2018-06-02 10:34:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6562912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nozoroomie/pseuds/Nozoroomie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eli returns to McDonald's thanks to her internet failing when she has papers she needs to get done. Maki's a grump, Nico's the greatest wing woman in the world and Nozomi's still very pretty.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hot Nozomi

**Author's Note:**

> The sequel to the story that caused people to send me photos of their Eli's and their chicken nuggets. How did this even get so long? This is crazy. I love it and I love you guys. 
> 
> A side note: Nico throwing the nuggets is something I exaggerated, but is similar to something that happened with a good friend of mine who was a night time McDonalds employee. Can you believe that? Night time at McDonalds sounds wild.

Maki pulls the car into the Mcdonald’s parking lot, turning it off instantly as they get into a spot and reaching into the back for her bag. Eli clutches her backpack in her lap, not physically or emotionally ready to enter the building. It was still too soon, what if Nozomi still works here? There’s no way Nozomi would forgot that stupid fumble with the nuggets. She probably told everyone there (Eli wouldn’t doubt every single person in the area knew she was responsible for the bag of wet, soggy nuggets that was in the drive thru.) The blonde stays buckled in the front seat and Maki throws a tired glare her way.

“Look, I have a paper due, you have papers due, we can’t afford to be internetless tonight. This is the only place open, and if you’d like to keep you average up then I suggest you get your ass inside that restaurant, buy your  _ stupid nuggets _ and get to work.” 

Eli really couldn’t argue with that, especially since Maki had been out of coffee for longer than she’d like to be. Maki without caffeine in her system during the late hours of the night was like a silent storm quietly brewing. The longer she went without it, the more irritated she became. Sometimes, Eli swears you could see the clash of lightning and rain inside Maki’s vivid purple iris’.

“Okay you’re right.” Eli sides with her, unbuckling her seat belt. “But what if Nozomi’s there? What if she remembers me as the girl who dropped her nuggets last week? I can’t face her ever again Maki, I could possibly die.” 

Whether she dies from embarrassment or Nozomi’s attractiveness was something the blonde feels inclined to leave out. 

“It’s your pride or your grade. Either way, here.” Maki shoves a few large bills into Eli’s hands before opening her car door. “You can buy your own things, I’m getting a coffee and getting to work.”

Eli clutches onto the money tightly and watches hurricane Maki head towards the entrance. She feels a bit of guilt for the poor, late night employee that would be serving her at the counter. She sighs to herself, making the right decision for her grade and deciding to suck it up and go inside. If Nozomi was there, then Nozomi was there. Sure, Eli might get distracted by her and have another existential gay crisis, but her apartments internet was down and she needed to keep her grades up. She takes a short breath and slips on her reading glasses and beanie, silently praying Nozomi might not recognize her before getting out of the car and sprinting over to the doors.

It’s surprisingly inactive for McDonald’s late at night, and Eli feels grateful for the lack of things to distract her and Maki as they work. She slips her backpack onto her shoulders and steps over to the counter, watching Maki wait rather impatiently for the employee to move from the drive thru window over to the counter. Maki glances back, seeing Eli has finally entered the store and eyeing her disguise carefully. She sighs, turning ahead and beginning to tap her foot. Eli swallows the nervous lump in her throat before a familiar black haired girl moves over to the counter, surprising both her and Maki.

“Sorry about the wait, how can I help yo- Oh. It’s you two.” Nico’s fake happy smile quickly turns downward upon seeing her and Maki. 

“This is the night job you were talking about at lunch?” Maki asks, a bit of amusement in her voice. “You make it sound a lot better than what it looks like.”

“The only shitty thing about this job is I have to serve judging customers like you, Ms. ‘I don’t have to pay for my own schooling.’” Nico retorts, pressing buttons on the till in front of her. “Everything else is great. We have fun. You just missed the biggest nugget throwing competition of the century."

“Surprisingly, I don’t doubt that.” Maki replies, her irritation quickly resurfacing from Nico’s comment. “I hope you won’t be the one making my coffee.” 

“Sorry Maki-chan, you get the one and only Nico Nii for that.” Nico smirks. “Don’t worry Eli, I’ll spare you Maki’s wrath and make it right.”

Eli gives Nico a nervous thumbs up as she scans the parts of the back she can see for purple hair. As of now, it looks like it’s just Nico at the front. Eli sighs in relief and watches as Maki places her order. The transaction goes fast and Nico hands Maki her receipt before looking over to the taller blonde. Eli smiles and steps closer to the counter. 

“You should probably make Maki’s coffee first before serving me. I can wait, she can’t.” Eli comments. 

They both share a laugh while Maki scowls at them, and the raven haired girl goes off to prepare the red haired girls coffee for her. Eli adjusts her glasses a bit as she looks over the menu. She knows exactly what she wants, but it was a great distraction until Nico comes back to take her order.

A loud, worrisome crash comes from around the coffee machine and Nico sighs.

“YO, NOZOMI! WHO CLEANED THE COFFEE MACHINE BEFORE LEAVING?” Nico shouts. Eli pales slightly, remembering that name quite well.

A shout comes from the back, replying to Nico.

“PROBABLY YOSHIKO.”

“Figures.” She grumbles, cleaning up some of  the mess quickly and arriving moments later with a very tall, very hot coffee for Maki. “Sorry, one of the new girls stacked a bunch of junk up and now it’s all over the floor. Let me know if your coffee tastes fine Maki-chan.” 

Maki quickly opens the tab on the lid, greedily taking a sip of the hot liquid and sighing contently. 

“Tastes perfect, Nico. Thanks” Maki replies contently. Nico grins.

“Probably because I made it, but still, glad to hear it!” Nico walks back over to the coffee machine and calls back out to Nozomi. “HEY NOZOMI! IF YOU’RE NOT BUSY CAN YOU COME GET THE FRONT WHILE I CLEAN UP THIS MESS?”

“BE THERE IN A SEC!” The reply is fast and Eli wonders if the trash can closet to her could possibly fit her tall, lean body.

She doesn’t get the chance to find out as the beautiful woman who has been haunting her thoughts walks out from the back, her hair tied in a messier bun but the same strands of purple hair framing her face just like they were that fateful night last week. Her breath hitches as her glasses give her a more high definition view of the beautiful green eyes and plump, pink lips teasingly smile in a friendly manner at her. Eli struggles to keep her expression neutral as Nozomi stands in front of the till, pressing a couple buttons before looking up to Eli.

“Evening Miss.” She says with a grin, and Eli isn’t sure if Nozomi is able to recognize her or not. She silently thanks every god above for this moment before speaking.

“E-Evening.” She mentally curses her stutter and the fact that it gives Nozomi the confirmation that yes, it is exactly who she thinks it is. 

Her eyes darken into a mischievous shade of green that Eli finds unfair. How can this girl be so attractive no matter what? She really is too gay for this. She should have made Maki order for her and stayed in the car until Maki gave her an okay text to come inside. So many things she could have done and yet here she is, repeating the exact same situation as last week (except she’s not in the drive thru and if she dropped her nuggets this time, they could be saved. God bless the clean tiled floor she stands on.) She spares a glance towards her roommate, who seems oddly amused as she nurses the large coffee in her hands and waits for the next part of her order.

“What can I get you?” Nozomi prompts, bringing Eli’s attention back to her. 

Eli inhales sharply noticing her gaze has gone from wide eyed and curious to sultry and  _ knowing.  _ This seriously isn’t fair. She can’t handle it. Is this girl flirting with her? Does she know Eli clearly has the hots for her? Is all this teasing intentional? Eli’s face feels hot and she hates how obviously flustered she is.

“Ten. Ten Nuggets please.” Eli says in defeat. She knows. They all know. Everyone in this store knows all Eli wants is those  _ hot chicken nuggets _ . 

“You got it~” The violet haired girl says in a sing song voice, plugging it in on the till. “Would you like to make that a meal tonight~?” 

Eli looks at the three large bills clutched in her hands. You know what, Maki just shoved this money in her hands, why  _ not _ treat herself? She might be making a fool of herself and her pride is on a very thin line, she deserves to make it a meal. Large size. With a milkshake.

“Yeah, actually I would.” Eli says in a clear, determined voice. “Large. With a chocolate shake.”

“Chocolate huh? I would’ve thought you were more of a strawberry type gal.” Nozomi quips with an amused smile, plugging in her order.

“A-actually you’re right. Make it strawberry. The biggest size you can.” Eli apologizes to the inner chocolate fiend inside of her but she’s out to impress this girl.

How she was going to do that by treating herself to a strawberry milkshake is still a mystery to her as well.

The violet haired girl laughs and Eli can feel her knees begin to weaken. What an adorable sound. 

“Will that be for here or to go?” She asks, looking at Eli with a warm smile. 

Shit. That smile was too good for this world. Eli’s thankful to be alive.

“For here, but put it in a bag.” Eli says, not intending to make the mistake of dropping her food and losing it like she had last week. 

“Good call.” Nozomi grins, giving Eli a knowing look. “Aren’t you glad we don’t have puddles inside the store?” 

Eli blushes and looks away and Nico comments from the behind coffee machine.

“What the hell? That doesn’t even make sense Nozomi.” 

Eli’s eyes widen as Nozomi laughs.

“It’s fine Nicocchi. It doesn’t need to make sense.” Nozomi rings up Eli’s total for her and the blonde silently hands over one of her bills.

The violet haired girl is quick to hand her the change and gives her another smile. 

“I don’t need to go to the back to know there’s no  _ mcnuggies  _ right now. So do you care about waiting maybe five minutes?” She asks, putting emphasis on the word mcnuggies. “It just means you’ll get another fresh batch of,  _ hot chicken nuggets. _ ”

Eli can feel a sense of deja vu and shakes her head, laughing a bit nervously.

“N-not at all.” She affirms. The violet haired girl moves over to the ice cream machine, grabbing a large cup in her hand and preparing Eli’s milkshake.

While Nozomi does that, Nico returns with Maki’s order, laid out on a tray and sliding it carefully to her. Maki thanks her and goes to claim a table for the both of them while Nico leans on the counter, looking to Eli curiously. Eli’s oblivious as she watches Nozomi place the milkshake down, giving the blonde a quick wink before going off to put the chicken nuggets down. Eli closes her eyes and silently thanks every being higher up that she’s alive at the same time as this busty, violet haired goddess is. Nico frowns.

“Jesus christ Eli.” She remarks and Eli looks over to her in surprise. 

“What?!” She asks, grabbing her milkshake and looking helplessly at it until Nico pulls a straw out from under the counter. 

“Anyone in a ten mile radius could tell how gay you are right now.” The red eyed girl replies. “At least Maki is subtle. But you? You’re gayer than a double rainbow at a gay pride parade.”

“S-shut up! I’m- I’m not that out there!” Eli hisses, pushing the straw into her milkshake and taking a sip. 

She briefly forgets she changed her order to strawberry and exhales through her nose, unable to make eye contact with Nico as she smirks at her.

“You know, she’s single.” Nico says matter of factly and Eli almost spews the milkshake in her mouth all over the counter and Nico. Almost.

She swallows the mouthful of milkshake quickly and glares at Nico with her blush returning.

“W-why does that matter?” The blonde asks with a frown. It isn’t like Nozomi is a les-

“Because the only person I know who’s gayer than you is that titty monster back there.” Nico jabs her thumb behind her, directing Eli towards the violet haired girl who now speaks to a customer on her headset.

The blonde nearly drops her milkshake at the revelation and she stares wide eyed at Nico. The raven haired girl can read her friend like a book and knows exactly what Eli wants her to do. She shakes her head, pushing herself off the counter and immediately answering the unasked question.

“No way.” She answers. “You gays can get yourselves together, I don’t want to be apart of it at all.” 

“Please?!” Eli practically begs, looking at Nico with puppy dog eyes. “I can’t do this on my own! You know that, you saw me at that LGBTQIA mixer at the beginning of the semester!”

Nico tries hard not to laugh out loud. The irony of it was Nozomi was the one who threw that mixer, but Eli couldn’t even make it through the door because of the drunk girl flirting outside with her. If Nico recalls correctly, her name is Chiduko Sakamaki and she rivals Nozomi in the ‘big tittied lesbian’ status on campus. The girl ended up getting Eli so flustered the blonde had no choice but to bail on the party, unable to handle the combination of alcohol and attractive ladies all at once. Nico shakes her head, staying defiant on her original decision.

“Absolutely not.” She watches Eli grow more determined and the sharp blue eyed gaze that greets her causes a nervous bead of sweat to form.

“Help me out and I’ll tutor you for free for the rest of the semester.” Eli bargains. 

The offer is tempting, but Nico knows if she helps Eli out all she’ll hear is about her best friends and their very active sex life. Which, as great as that’d be, isn’t exactly what Nico wants to hear about when she’s struggling to keep her grades up and Eli is supposed to be helping her. She shakes her head again.

“It’s gunna take more than that.” Nico replies, glancing backward as the fryer beeps loudly. “Come on Ayase, make it worth my while.”

Eli wracks her brain for any and all ideas and light a strike of lightning directly from the storm, Eli smiles and straightens herself.

“Okay okay, the tutoring offer  _ and _ a date with Maki.”

The black haired girl seems surprised by the offer and falters. Eli smirks, mentally patting herself on the back. The date wouldn’t be hard since Maki has a somewhat obvious attraction towards the shorter girl (Eli can remember the first time Nico came over to their place and the amount of times Maki asked if Nico would be coming back any time soon. What a nerd.) If things worked out with Nozomi, maybe Eli could con her into a double date. The idea gives Eli butterflies and Nico nods, liking this offer much more than her original.

“Fine, Deal. But only because I’m amazing and I love you and Maki’s cute.” Nico has a tiny hint of pink on her cheeks, but her smile is there. 

Eli resists the urge to cheer, to throw her arms around Nico and thank her over and over again. She has the greatest friends. If this works out in her favour, she’d be sure to thank Nico with the best sweets she could buy. Nico glances around before leaning forward again, gesturing for Eli to do the same.

“Listen, Nozomi has to clean the play place up in about a half hour. Shouldn’t take her longer than fifteen minutes. You could probably corner her for some more flirting when she gets out. Don’t go in. There’s cameras, you’ll get in trouble and she could lose her job and right now Nozomi can’t afford that so, if you go past playful flirting inside the store and she faces the punishment for it I’m kicking your ass.”

Eli nods at the instructions, mentally going over them. She definitely didn’t want Nozomi to lose her job and she doesn’t think she’d be able to do more than an innocent brush of their hands without passing out. There was only one problem with Nico’s help.

“Okay, great plan. One problem.” Eli points to herself. “I couldn’t flirt my way out of a wet paper bag.”

Nico laughs and shrugs.

“Trust me, you won’t have to.” Nico smirks like she knows exactly what might happen before moving over to the food queue, grabbing Eli’s order and bagging it carefully for her.

“Did you want any sauce?” Nico asks before rolling up the bag. Eli blinks as if remembering an important thing she forgot the last time.

“Right! Yeah, ranch please.” She says. “I forgot them last time, I was so distracted by the fact I dropped my order last time I didn’t even think to-” 

Eli abruptly stops talking as Nico snickers. Why does one of her best friends have to work at the exact same McDonalds Eli made a fool of herself at? If tonight didn’t go well she’d be boycotting McDonald’s for the rest of her life. (At least, until she moves out of the country and nobody would know about the nugget incident ever. It’d be her little secret.)  Nico moves to grab them and sighs.

“Nozomi! We need more ranch!” She shouts. 

“On it!” Comes the reply. Eli wants to object to Nico leaving but before she can she brings her mic down, turning her headset on and speaking in a chipper voice.

“Welcome to McDonald’s, how can I help you?” She says with a smirk, moving from the counter to the window and serving the customer on the other side of the mic.

Eli curses as Nozomi comes back to the front, a box of ranch in her hand and a tiny smile on her face. She places the box down, taking a few out of the box and dropping them into the paper bag before rolling it up carefully for Eli. She holds it out with an even wider smile, waiting for the blonde to take it before striking with that devilish wink of hers.

“Enjoy it, cutie~” Eli’s heart beats faster but her hand clutches the bag tighter, a reflex she’s glad has changed since the last weeks encounter.

“Y-yeah. Thanks.” She replies. 

A fryer goes off in the back and Nozomi leaves the counter and Eli. Eli sighs and adjusts her backpack before making her way over to the table Maki sits at. She sits across from her, placing her food down and pulling out her laptop and its cord. She plugs it in, knowing her laptop was close to 0 battery life and that it would need to be plugged in for when she snuck away to flirt with Nozomi. She looks over to see an uninterested Maki reading her computer screen as she idly munches on her junior chicken. She definitely wouldn’t be paying much attention to Eli, especially since Nico was there to offer a small distraction as well.

Eli pulls out her nuggets and fries, flattening out the bag and using it as a placemat for them. She opens a ranch dip up, covering one of her  _ hot chicken nuggets _ in the dipping sauce before shoving the greasy goodness down her throat and getting to work. She keeps her eyes on the time as she eats her very late dinner and idly types away at her report. It’s a good thing this paper’s practically writing itself, otherwise Eli would be quite worried about how productive she is in this restaurant.

The staff door opens and Nozomi exits, heading towards the area where the play place entrance is. Her headset is off and she’s whistling as she passes by the booth Eli and Maki sit at and makes her way over to a locked closet door. Eli watches with keen eyes as Nozomi pulls a key off of her belt, unlocking the door and pulling out a cart full of cleaning supplies. She moves over to the glass door leading into the children’s play area, unlocking it quickly and bringing the cleaning supplies with her inside. She continues to stare as the violet haired girl locks the door behind her and begins getting to work.

The blonde takes this as her time to prepare herself. She has the best flirting techniques she she can think of ready, all she needs is the perfect opportunity to use them. She takes her beanie off, grabbing her scrunchie from her wrist and tying her hair up carefully into her signature ponytail. She slips her glasses off, folding them carefully and placing them down on the table next to her computer. She checks her pocket, making sure her phone is there and she glances at the time, noticing only a couple minutes have gone by. Maki looks over to her with a raised eyebrow that Eli doesn’t notice. The blonde takes a nervous sip of her milkshake and Maki speaks.

“You alright?” She asks, picking up her coffee.

“Fine! I’m fine!” Eli declares awkwardly, grabbing another nugget and dipping it in the sauce. “Just... nothing. It’s nothing. Go back to your paper.” She shoves it in her mouth carelessly, chewing it quickly and swallowing without a second thought. 

Maki’s still eyeing her worriedly and Eli decides to go be nervous in a different part of the store so Maki can focus.

“I’m gunna head to the bathroom.” She decides, seeing that they were located right next to the play place.

Maki shrugs, not questioning it. She turns the volume up on her music and sips her coffee before continuing her work. Eli scoots out of her spot, smoothing her sweater out and glancing down at her clothes. Nothing says poor college student more than wearing the same pair of jeans for the fifth day in a row, an old sweater she forgot she had buried in her dresser and the worn out shoes she should have replaced months ago. She resists the urge to sigh, and is quite grateful what she has in looks makes up for her not so attractive clothing.

With a little bit of self motivation, Eli makes her way over towards the bathrooms. There are a couple hidden booths across from the play place and Eli decides to stay near one, hoping she doesn’t look too foolish from Nozomi’s point of view (who’s she kidding? She looks ridiculous.) She pulls her phone from her pocket, checking the time and quickly skimming through various apps to pass the time faster (she missed Ms. Fortune again and this time Tubbs didn’t eat all the Frisky bitz!) Before she knows it, she’s glancing over to see Nozomi bringing the cleaning cart back toward the entrance.

This is it. This is her moment to shine. She quickly moves around from the table, acting like she was coming up from her original spot to head to the washroom coincidentally in time with Nozomi leaving the children’s area. Even if Nozomi had seen her, it just makes for an awkward story later (she already has plenty of those, what's another one to add to the list?) She turns in mock surprise as she hears the door unlock and see’s Nozomi backing the cart out of the giant room. Nozomi turns her head to her and offers a small grin.

“If it isn’t Hot McNuggies.” She teases, earning a blush from Eli. 

“ _ Hot McNuggies _ ?!” She repeats and Nozomi laughs, moving to the closet and opening it up.

“Yup. That’s my name for you.” She claims, opening the closet to put the cart away. “Unless you’d prefer tall, blonde and gorgeous~?”

Eli isn’t sure how comfortable she is knowing she’s being called “McNuggies” among the Mcdonald’s crew. It doesn’t help that Nozomi follows it up with a quote on one of the McDonalds street advertisements. But they were both positive sounding. Eli is indeed tall, blonde, and she’s received enough love letters telling her she was gorgeous to remind her that she is a very good looking girl. Plus, Nozomi said _ hot  _ McNuggies. That could only mean really good things, right? Eli decides not to linger on the thought. She’s a girl on a mission, she can’t just let this opportunity pass by her.

“Is it because you don’t know my actual name?” Eli tries to get the upper hand of their conversation, attempting to lead it down a more flirtatious path.

“Possibly~” The violet haired girl replies, her grin still on her face. “Or maybe it’s because you always order chicken nuggets when I see you.”

“Hey, that’s only been twice so far.” Eli counters, feeling less embarrassed as the conversation comes easy between them.

“So far~? Does this mean I’ll see you again~?” Nozomi’s way too good at this and Eli can feel her cheeks heating up all over again.

“You-you could.” Eli clears her throat, attempting to reword herself. “I mean, probably. In the future at some point.”

Nozomi laughs and Eli’s smile grows. It really is a beautiful sound. That or Eli’s in way too deep already. Nozomi looks up at the blondes face, giving her a smaller smile. 

“Jokes aside, is there anything I can help you with?” She asks curiously. 

Eli pauses. She didn’t think this through fully, did she?

“Uhm-” She pauses as she watches Nozomi leer towards her lips. She begins feeling a bit self conscious the more Nozomi stares.

“McNuggies,” Nozomi begins, her smile growing as she reaches out towards her face. “Were you on your way to the bathroom to wash the ranch off your face?” 

Before Eli can react, the violet haired girl swipes the tiny bit of ranch in the corner of Eli’s lips off with her finger, showing it to Eli. The blonde feels nothing but embarrassment as Nozomi giggles. Nozomi glances at her finger curiously before looking Eli straight in the eyes and then sticking her finger into her mouth and humming satisfied. Eli gapes as Nozomi flashes her a cat like grin and pulls her finger out. Eli’s not sure if she's even capable of communicating with the McDonald's worker anymore.

Nozomi realizes exactly how intimate her actions were, taking Eli’s expression in the opposite way. She holds her hands up, waving them a bit and mumbling faster than Eli can process.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry, that was really, really forward. Ah- really, I didn’t-”

“I-It’s fine!” Eli cuts off Nozomi’s babbling. Thank god, she could still speak. “It’s not a problem! Not at all, far from it, really.”

Nozomi quirks one of her eyebrows up, heavily interested. She waits for Eli to explain and the blonde inhales deeply. It’s now or never.

“I was actually trying to flirt with you.” She blurts out. “B-but I’m really no good at it. You’re way better.”

It catches Nozomi by surprise and she’s speechless for only a moment before she laughs again, a hint of pink dusting her cheeks as she avoids direct eye contact with the blonde.

“Oh thank god. And here I was thinking I overstepped my boundaries.” She confesses, a great weight being lifted off of her. “I really am sorry if that made you a bit uncomfortable though.”

Eli wonders if Nozomi really is, but she can see only honesty in her now somewhat shy expression. Seeing her just that little bit flustered encourages her to continue, wanting the moment to last longer. It’s time for her to be the dashing individual she knows she is somewhere in her.

“It’s okay, really. You shouldn’t be sorry.” She says in a coy voice. “It was… _ hot _ .”

Eli mentally pats herself on the back for the brilliant reply. Nozomi has to cover her mouth to stop herself from laughing too loudly and Eli wishes they weren’t pressed for time. She wants to make Nozomi laugh some more. But Nozomi does have to get back to work and Eli really should get back to her paper. She smiles a bit softer to Nozomi, speaking again when her laughter subsides.

“I also wanted to introduce myself.” She says, a bit quieter and more sheepishly. “My names Ayase Eli.”

Nozomi’s grin softens as she stares at Eli, lowering her hand and replying.

“Well, it’s no ‘Hot McNuggies’, but it is a beautiful name.” Nozomi finally closes the closet, locking it up before moving over to the play place door and making sure it was locked up as well. “I’m Tojo Nozomi. It’s lovely to finally know your name, Elichi~”

Eli can feel herself growing attached to the nickname already, wanting Nozomi to say it again. 

“I need to get back to work now.” Nozomi says, a hint of sadness in her voice. “Got quite a long way to go before the night's over.”

Eli nods in understanding. 

“I really should get back to my paper.” There’s a frown on Eli’s face and she walks with Nozomi towards the main part of the restaurant. 

“Thanks for the fun conversation.” Nozomi says with a grin. “You’ve pretty much made my night.” 

There’s a tiny blush on her face and Eli smiles. It’s nice to hear that.

“Anytime.” The blonde says. 

They share a look and Eli desperately wishes that they had more time, even just a little bit. Nozomi waves a bit, bidding Eli a short goodbye and walking away from her back towards the back. Eli watches her, willing any kind of words to come to her. All she needs is to ask for her number, or maybe even a date. She knows she can do it, and she steps forward, calling out louder than she’d like to admit.

“WAIT! HOT NOZOMI!”

Nozomi freezes at the staff door, looking over wide eyed at Eli. The blonde freezes and even Maki looks over to her with mild surprise. Her hands are shaking a bit, resisting the urge to cover her face from her embarrassment. She can’t go back now. It’s too late. She said it, everyone here already knows Eli has the biggest gay crush on her, who cares if she said she was hot out loud now? Certainly not Eli.

“S-sorry!” She starts, laughing awkwardly. “I-I was gunna call you Hot McNuggies, but I said your name instead. Weird, right?” 

Nozomi’s lip twitches upward and she’s trying very hard not to laugh. Eli appreciates it, because the excuse she gave is terrible.

“L-listen. Maybe we could... Go out? Sometime maybe? I could even get you some  _ hot chicken nuggets  _ sometime.” 

Eli’s proposal is weak and pathetic and she can feel Nico’s “really?” stare on her but at this moment, she really doesn’t care. Well, she did care a bit about the nugget option. Nozomi worked around them, why would she want to go out and eat chicken nuggets with her? Despite that, Nozomi laughs, opening the door to the staff area and giving Eli a charming grin.

“Sure. As long as you’re the one making them next time.” She winks before entering through the door and closing it behind her.

Eli has a stupid grin for what seems like forever before turning around and giddily pumping her fist into the air like the infatuated fool she is. She briefly forgets the rest of the store can see her as she celebrates to herself. Sure, the finer details weren’t settled and Eli still doesn’t have her number, but Nico does. She can always get it off Nico. Or maybe Nozomi would get hers off of Nico? At this point, Eli doesn’t care. Nozomi said “sure” to the idea of Eli getting her chicken nuggets. This is the new greatest moment of her life. She can feel it. This is the day she’ll tell everyone about for years and years to come once her and Nozomi are dating and in love.

Eli pauses her celebration for a moment, remembering exactly where she is and what time of night it is. She stands straight, brushing some non existent dust off of her sweater and slowly making her way back to the table where her laptop and Maki are. She can feel pairs of red and green eyes watching her from behind the counter and a purple pair across from her as she sits down, opening her laptop up and getting right back to work. Maki opens her mouth to speak but closes it as she watches Eli push her laptop to the side and bury her face into her arms on the table.

“Well,” Maki begins, closing her computer and eyeing Eli with a small smirk. “The good news is, you didn’t drop your nuggets. The bad news? We’re never going to let you forget that victory danc-”

“MAKI!”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, commenting and leaving Kudo's!  
> It means a hell of a lot ;;u;;! 
> 
> I hope this story makes your day and if you crave McNuggets, I'm so sorry.


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